"Iceland Gull" (International bird of mystery)

["Edward Conrad" <conradedward at hotmail dot com>]

12/30

My dad and I just had to attempt to find the "Iceland Gull."  We ended up 
finding it along with some Utah county birders: Dennis Shirley, Merrill 
Webb, Tuula Rose, and two other men whose names I missed, sorry. It was fun 
listening to some of their expertise over the different gulls.  I believe we 
all concluded that we thought it was indeed a first winter "Iceland Gull." I 
am anxious in seeing the photos Mark took so more can voice their opinions 
in the bird in question and see if this is truly an "Iceland Gull" like we 
think and hope it is.   The "Iceland Gull" was down on the ice usually by a 
small patch of open water north of the actual landfill.  We looked at it for 
a long time and saw it standing, swimming, and flying.  Terrific views. I 
found the translucent primaries to be the best ID mark to find the bird in 
question out of the large mass of gulls.  Then the Utah County birders went 
over the other important marks necessary to eliminate other similiar species 
and it all came down to "Iceland Gull."

One of the Utah County Birders (I can't remember who), found the 2nd winter 
Glaucous Gull.  Then someone spotted another Glaucous Gull, amazing!  We 
found tons of Herring Gulls, and I remember one of the other birder's 
remarks that this was the most Herring Gulls he had ever seen in Utah.  The 
group saw some Thayer's Gulls, but I'm not exactly sure how many, because I 
can't ID them by myself.

I do hope that the Utah County birders do put something into the birdnet, 
because they can give more specific details that I missed.

A great birding adventure.
              -Ed and Joseph Conrad
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